Lorain Fire Department fights 3 fires during weekend

By
Jon Behm, The Morning Journal

Monday, November 4, 2013

LORAIN — The Lorain Fire Department remained busy over the weekend, responding to three fires, starting with a blaze resulting in an injury, followed by a believed case of arson and capped off with an early morning attic fire.

At about 6:15 p.m., Saturday, the fire department responded to a kitchen fire at 2525 E. 29th St.

“When we got there, the residents were all out,” Assistant Chief Dennis Livchak said. “There was an electric stove that had caught fire and we were able to put it out after about five minutes.”

According to Livchak, a resident had put a pot of grease on the stove and gone into the basement to work on something else. While she was away, the grease caught fire.

The woman’s husband attempted to put out the fire with a fire extinguisher.

“He had some first- and second-degree burns to his left hand and nose,” Livchak said, noting he was taken to EMH Elyria Medical Center for treatment.

Livchak said the estimated damage to the home was $8,000, with an additional $2,000 in damage to contents.

“There was some decent damage to the fridge and ceiling of the kitchen along with some smoke damage to the dining room,” Livchak said. “We were able to secure the electric so that they could still occupy the home.”

The next incident occurred at about 2:03 p.m., Sunday, when a commercial fire alarm went off at St. Joseph Hospital, 205 W. 20th St.

According to Livchak, it took about 15 minutes to find and extinguish the fire.

“When they first got there they didn’t find it,” he said. “After looking for a bit, they found the fire by an entrance in the northeast corner of the building.”

The fire is pretty suspicious, Livchak said.

“There were some signs of a break-in and some vandalism,” he said.

The pile of trash was set on fire, causing the hallway and few rooms to be filled with smoke, he said.

A Lorain police report on the incident said the fire alarms in the area by the blaze were all broken by someone.

The report also said that moments after Lorain police were dispatched to St. Joseph’s, an unidentified male had called the police station, saying that the fire department was at the scene and there was no reason for police to come out.

No one was injured in the fire, and both police and fire personnel are investigating the incident.